Pre-Columbian Artifact Collection/Exhibit Write-up

2020

Early in the Spring 2020 semester, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga students in my Ancient to Modern Latin American Visual Culture Art History course embarked upon an intensive first-hand visual analysis and research project that involved working directly with original artifacts from Ancient Latin America housed within the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Library's Special Collections. This unique opportunity and the publication of their findings were made possible thanks to the generous support and assistance of Special Collections Director Carolyn Runyon and her dedicated staff. By examining the wide array of Pre-Columbian objects in the George and Louise Patten Salem Hyde Papers and Cultural Artifacts Collection, these upper division students formed small research groups dedicated to specific artifact types, such as human figurines , animal figurines , tools and lithics , vessels , anthropomorphic ceramics , replicas , and sherds. They carefully recorded their original observations of their selected objects of study in written field notes, photographs, and drawings. Later, they compared their initial observations with preliminary collection data developed independently by Archaeology students of Dr. Andrew Workinger, leading to further questions and insights surrounding these extraordinary pieces predominantly from pre-contact indigenous cultures of the Central and Intermediate regions of Latin America that today comprise Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama and Colombia. Building upon their analysis, the Art History student research groups then reexamined their selected artifacts through analytical frameworks focused on Gender and the Body , Color , Pattern and Materiality , Spirituality and the Object , Form and Function , and Identity and Representation. In presenting their findings to their peers, students received feedback that allowed them to refine their analysis and develop the original individual and group catalog essays that comprise this exhibition publication. Their research sheds further light on the extraordinary value and diversity of the ancient artifacts of Latin America that uniquely form part of UTC's Special Collections, as well as the innovative power of interdisciplinary research and collaboration.

2020

Early in the Spring 2020 semester, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga students in my Ancient to Modern Latin American Visual Culture Art History course embarked upon an intensive first-hand visual analysis and research project that involved working directly with original artifacts from Ancient Latin America housed within the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Library’s Special Collections. This unique opportunity and the publication of their findings were made possible thanks to the generous support and assistance of Special Collections Director Carolyn Runyon and her dedicated staff. By examining the wide array of Pre-Columbian objects in the George and Louise Patten Salem Hyde Papers and Cultural Artifacts Collection, these students formed small research groups dedicated to specific artifact types, such as human figurines , animal figurines , tools and lithics , vessels , anthropomorphic ceramics , replicas , and sherds . They carefully recorded their original observations of their selected objects of study in written field notes, photographs, and drawings. Later, they compared their initial observations with preliminary collection data developed independently by Archaeology students of Dr. Andrew Workinger, leading to further questions and insights surrounding these extraordinary pieces predominantly from pre-contact indigenous cultures of the Central and Intermediate regions of Latin America that today comprise Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama and Colombia. Building upon their analysis, the Art History student research groups then re-examined their selected artifacts through analytical frameworks focused on Gender and the Body , Pattern and Materiality , Spirituality and the Object , Form and Function , and Identity and Representation . In presenting their findings to their peers, students received feedback that allowed them to refine their analysis and develop the original individual and group catalog essays that comprise this exhibition publication. Their research sheds further light on the extraordinary value and diversity of the ancient artifacts of Latin America that uniquely form part of UTC’s Special Collections, as well as the innovative power of interdisciplinary research and collaboration. [...] This publication is also available on UTC Scholar, at: https://scholar.utc.edu/exhibition-records/5/

Past Presented: Archaeological Illustration and the Ancient Americas, 2012

Antiquity, 2021

Chacmools are a distinctive sculptural form associated with the Mesoamerican cities of Chichen Itza and Tula. A recently excavated sculpture found at Las Mercedes in Costa Rica, over 2000km to the south, closely resembles the Mesoamerican chacmools. Comparing this new chacmool-like sculpture with similar examples at the American Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of Costa Rica, the authors demonstrate that these sculptures were common in lower Central America, and propose a connection between Central America and Mesoamerica dating back to AD 1000. They interpret the Costa Rican chacmools as ritual furniture employed by local chiefs to enhance their power and prestige through the enactment of Mesoamerican-inspired rituals.

2008

2013

2008

On September 15, 2007, the PCS/DC presented its annual symposium on the ancient cultures of the steamy tropics between the Mesoamerican and Andean cultures. As moderator of the symposium, Dr. John W. Hoopes presented the opening talk that discussed the region between the southern frontiers of Mesoamerica and the northern frontiers of the Central Andes-often referred to as the "Intermediate Area" -that remains unfamiliar to many specialists. A growing body of multidisciplinary scholarship from the fields of historical linguistics, human genetics, archaeology, ethnohistory, and sociocultural anthropology offers a new perspective on the cultures that connected southern Mesoamerica with the northern Andes and the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. Hoopes' talk provided an introduction to how scholars are addressing this new paradigm and discussed its implications for Pre-Columbian studies. It also described the region's principal iconographic motifs as they are represented in ceramics, stone sculpture, jade carving, and metallurgy and explained what they reveal about ancient belief systems of the predominantly Chibchan-speaking peoples and their neighbors in Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia. Dr. Hoopes received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from Harvard University. He is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Kansas. He is also a courtesy curator at the Museum of Anthropology at the university. His research interests include the archaeology of Central and South America, Chibchan culture, internet archaeology, cultural evolution, prehistoric trade and exchange, origins of agriculture and sedentism, and prehistoric ceramics.

Trustees for harvard university, Washington, d.c. all rights reserved. Printed in the united States of america Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: costin, cathy lynne, editor of compilation. | dumbarton oaks. | Pre-columbian Studies Symposium "Making Value, Making Meaning : Techné in the Pre-columbian World" (2013 : Washington, d.c.) Title: Making value, making meaning : techné in the pre-columbian world / cathy lynne costin, editor. Description: Washington, d.c. : dumbarton oaks research library and collection, [2016] | Series: dumbarton oaks pre-columbian symposia and colloquia | "Volume based on papers presented at the Precolumbian Studies Symposium 'Making Value, Making Meaning : Techné in the Pre-columbian World,' held at the dumbarton oaks research library and collection, Washington, d.c., on october 11-12, 2013"-Title page verso. | includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: lccn 2015045619 | iSbn 9780884024156 (hardcover : alkaline paper) Subjects: lcSh: indians of central america-antiquities-congresses. | indians of South americaantiquities-congresses. | indian artisans-central america-history-congresses. | indian artisans-South america-history-congresses. | handicraft-central america-history-congresses. | handicraft-South america-history-congresses. | indian arts-central america-historycongresses. | indian arts-South america-history-congresses. | Social archaeology-central america-congresses. | Social archaeology-South america-congresses. Classification: lcc F1434.2.a7 M35 2016 | ddc 972.8/01-dc23